Project Description

Artist Phyllis Green completed a two-phase construction fence project for the Hollywood/Highland construction site. The first phase, inspired by Hollywood’s historic movie industry and the merging of reality and fantasy that is part of the spirit of American film, used fantasy film posters resembling industry “one sheets” (advertisement posters) to cover the construction fence on Hollywood Boulevard between Orchid Avenue and Highland. Instead of promoting current releases, Green’s posters featured actual residents of the Hollywood area. Each poster included a photographic image of the subject combined with lines of text conceived by that subject, referring to a fantasy about his/her future life. The posters were hung in groupings to produce the effect of contemporary urban tiles. Large graphic text highlighting famous lines from actual movies were incorporated to break up the poster patterns and be highly visible to passing traffic.

The second phase of the project replaced the fantasy film posters with multiple editions of painted plywood stars depicting screened portraits of both entertainment industry personalities whose Hollywood Walk of Fame stars had been temporarily removed during construction, and local community “stars” involved with contemporary Hollywood.

Artist Statement

“My project literally puts people back on the block.”

About the Artist

Portrait of Phyllis Green

PHYLLIS GREEN (b. 1950, Minneapolis) earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in Canada and Master of Fine Arts from the University of California, Los Angeles. She has lectured and taught art at a number of institutions, including Loyola Marymount University and the University of Southern of California. Green’s work has been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and abroad. She is the recipient of grants from the California Arts Council, the Durfee Foundation, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, among others.